Prabhakaran is a 53 years old retired blue collar worker. He used to work in an electrical factory. During the course of his work, he developed a chronic cough and breathlessness. As a result of this, he had chronic breathlessness and could hardly perform any physical activity. Initially, he was treated by his family physician with cough syrups and medicines, but he continued showing the symptoms. On a visit to Fortis after a chest X-Ray, it was discovered that he had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The doctor prescribed Oxygen Therapy using a concentrator. Today Prabhakaran is much better thanks to the correct diagnosis and treatment of the condition.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are breathing ailments with a wide range of undesirable side effects ranging from difficulty in breathing to heart disease and cancer. India faces a heightened risk since pollution is one of the leading causes of this ailment. According to a 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) report, India, has 16 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities.
People affected by COPD have a shortage of oxygen in the blood supply. Oxygen Concentrators filter out the Nitrogen prevalent in the atmosphere and provide oxygen with a purity of ninety-three percent.
“The air we breathe contains about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other gasses. An Oxygen concentrator filters out as much nitrogen and other harmful gases as possible while leaving the oxygen. The resulting air has a much higher concentration of oxygen which is what COPD patients’ need.” Says Dr. Narayana Pradeep, Consultant Pulmonologist, Kasaragod, Kerala
Often COPD is confused with Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD). COPD is a disease that allows a patient to breathe, but due to inflammation and obstruction, not expel air well, while ILD restricts their ability to breathe at all through scarring and damage to the lungs themselves. Patients with ILD requires Oxygen at higher LPM (liters per minute) and hence the introduction of the 10 Litre concentrator.
Elaborating on the dependency of the patients using Oxygen concentrators, Ankur Garg, Co-founder, Medequip Healthcare Solutions says that “Our commitment is to provide quality healthcare equipment and to service them to reduce the dependency of customers using Oxygen therapy machines. We ensure that our Pan India Distributor/Dealer and Techno Service Network ensure minimal downtime of machines, giving the customers the much-needed support. Also, with our wide range of Oxygen Therapy products and artificial ventilation machines, we are able to provide cost-effective solutions to our customers.”
Patients suffering from COPD / ILD have low levels of oxygen in their blood. Some may need oxygen all of the time while others may need it only during sleep and exercise. Supplementing oxygen to improve the level of oxygen in the blood through can relieve the strain on the heart and lungs and improve symptoms of shortness of breath and fatigue. The aim of Medequip is to provide the oxygen system that best fits the patient’s requirement and lifestyle.
